Anticreeper for railway rails



Oct. 25. 1927.

. 1,646,512 W. ,S. WESTON mricn'azrna FOR RAILWAY nuns Original Filed Aug. 28. 1924 "hearse star Patented out. 25, 1922* 1 WILLIAM svIEsroN; or pnrirlas'rnlgas.

' nurl'onnnrnn r 012- RAILWAY Baits.

' (In m r applicatitinfiled August as, 1924; Seria'LNofiZMfiZZ. Pace n 1,572,455; dated rebruar le,

- 1926. Divided and. this application f led September'19, 1El25. erialNo. 57,338. a. v

' a The present application is a division of a 'copending application"filed'flby me in the United States QPa tent Ofiice, August 28, 1924, "and which resulted in Patent-No.

1,572,455 dated February'), 1926.

The invent-ion "relates'to '1'211 anti-creepers. More particularly'the invention relates to spring clamp anti-creepers that are adapted to be strainedon installation tothereby establish a lever'grip on the rail thatis increased and utilized to prevent. the creeping of the rail by the pressure of the anchor against-the substructure whereon the rail, is mounted.

The invention seeks to provide an improved rail anchor of this type which is adapted to ,resistcreeping of the rail in 7 either direction. A further object ofthe in 'rai-l bearing plate of. ametal tie.

v 1n the drawings:

ventionj is to provide a simple and effective 'forni of rail anchor or anti-creeper which, ,t'orffunction'aloperat on, is adapted tobe seated-i-n a recess in a tie plate or in the fobject is to," provide an anti creeper having double or multiple lever gripfthat is utilized to resist creeping of the rail in either direction. The invention consists in the features of improvement hereinafter set forth, I illustrated in the preferred form in the accompanying drawings and more particularlyvv pointed out inthe appended vclaims.

; Figl is a new in elevation of the preforred'form of the improved rail anchor, zipplied in position on the rail and with the latter shown in cross section, v a

- "Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the-partsshown in Fig. l. g y a n a 3 is a vertical section on the lines 3-78 fof'Figsfl and 4. a V J Fig. 4 is a verticalsection on the lines.2l4:

of Figs. 1 and 3, and 1 i I Fig.6 is a side elevation of ptheimproved rail anchor or clip-illustrating its manufactured form.

As shown in the .draWing'sQthe improved" anti-creeper is more i particularly designed for use in connection with atie plate T interposed between the'rail Rand tie, T. The tie .platec may be ofany usual orsuitableconstruction and, as usual, is provided. with openings for receivingspikes Shy which the railand tie plate are secured'to the tie, The, tie plate is also provided, as usual, with -a shoulder S? for engagingone edge of the l anchors or A further rail base andfbeneath] the 0 5p 5sa e gefl the railloase it is provided with a rectangiu V lar opening,orholetfor receiving thelower portion of the anchor, 0rant1-creepercl1p Preferably also; the tie plate is provided with an upti' rnedprojection or hook K athi ch: bears upon and holds the anti-creeper clip against lateral displacement andwhich hookis held in contactwith the antisc'reeper by the shoulder S on'the opposite side of the-plateandv which, as stated, engages the opposite rail base flange. NVith, the rail well spiked down tothe plate andtie, the hook k K-coujld be omitted and the outer edge of the structure,couldbe l'arovidedwith a. similar properly vlocated and f proportioned hole or recess for receiving the lower portion of the anti-creeper clipy' thereby holding it in posi- 13-1 .Qnithe rail -base and also affording abutments QIL QPPOSltG sides of the clip against one or the other ozt which the clip takes a bearing finfunctional operation;

creeper clip made l in the shape of two In the preferred-form shown the antiflange embracing jaws A. and B"that are integrally connectQd through their top imern hers by a bar or plate L? '5 the latter, in ,the manufactured shape ofuiegcup prior to installation being' curved. upwardly so as to draw the bottommembers of the jaws toward each other making a "continuous rai1-' receiving space through the jaws less than the thickness of the rail flange asindicated by theidotted outline in Fi g. 5. The top and bottom members of each} jaw considered r by itselfljarespaced apart to permit itbeingmOunted without material internal strain on t-he'thickest flange with which the device is designed i-to be fused. Because of this large rail-seating space or clearance through each aw, the. connect on between the meniv berslot' each jaw can :be Landiis made as 1 rigid and-unyleld ng as poss ble so that,'. 1n

7 functional operation, the reaction force can be transmitted through the connection beti'veen thej aw members with a minimumof distortion of the *j aw itself. On the other hand; the connection betwe'en the jaws is made as yielding and re'silientTas possibleto'j permitthe mounting ofthe clip uponthe rail.

At installation, the resilient bar or plate L is so flattened or strained as to rotate the jaws in opposite directions away from each other and bring the flange-receiving spaces of the two jaws more nearly in line, thereby permitting the ready mounting of the device in operative position, as shown'in Figs. 3 and i. The recoil of the plate oribar L" 7 tends to rotate the jaws back to their initial relation (shown in Fig. 5) and thereby es-' tablishes a double lever grip on the rail base,

.jaw' A and its bearings a and a pr viding a. lever grip'in one direction and jaw Band its bearings Z2 and of providing a lever grip in the other direction, the full lever grip thus established and maintained being utilized in functional operation as hereinafter set forth. I

In the manufactured shape of the anticreeper shown in Fig. 5, the flange-receiving spaces of the jaws are so relatively inclined that, as stated, the continuous rail-receiving space is less than the thickness of the rail flange. Hence, when the anti-creeper device is placed in engagement with the rail flange,-

, sarily made-before that of the plate. It is noted that since the flange space of each jaw is made large enough for the thickest flange of any rail on which it is to be used, this space will be larger than required by the flan e of normal thickness as lndicated in Fig. l, and, the jaws A and B would be loose on the flange but for the strain developed in the connecting bar L which tends to rotate them back to their manufactured re lation. The grip of the device on the rail, therefore, is necessarily, as stated, that of a lever grip with bearings a and a paired n jaw A and bearings b and 7J paired 1n jaw B. I

In functional operation, if the rail tends to .move towards the left, as viewedin Fig. 4;, a the lower member of aw A comes in con-r tact with the side of the hole in the plate, so

that the tie reaction force is delivered to it by the plate T in'the direction indicated by the arrow 25, and tends to rotate this jaw counter-clockwise and so increasefthe bite or pressure upon the rail flange of the bearings a and a which serve as fulcrums of a lever grip. NVhen the reaction force is great enough to cause these hearings of jaw A to move or bite still deeper into the rust and scale, it will be transmitted to the jaw 13 through the bar or member L in the direction indicated by the arrow 27 and tend to rotate that jaw in the opposite direction, or clockwise, a tendency which it already has because of the internal straininthe longitudinal member L, and thus utilizing a second lever grip in a vertical plane with bearings b and 5 serving asfulcrums. A double lever grip. operating in a vertical plane on one base flange is thus provided and the reaction force distributed and delivered to the rail through four eifective'bearings. It is noted that the tendency in functional operation is to restore the clip to its manufactured shape and the principal strains of in stall-ation are relieved rather than increased. The result is that up to the point where the i'i'ialuifactured shape may be fullyrestored, the internal strains of installationwill take up and hold the bite of the bearings.

It is to be especially noted that if the rail 10 is to move toward the rightbringing the bottom member of jaw B in contact'with the edge of the hole in the plate on that side, the tie reaction force will be delivered to it in the direction indicated by the arrow 28. For vmovement in this direction, a double lever grip is eventually utilized with the grip of the jaw BcOming into effect first. The anchor is thus operative in either direction, it being noted that the reaction force in either direction tends to rotate the jaws in opposite direction, but each jaw in'the same direction and also the same direction in which the reaction ofthe resilient plate 'or bar L tends to rotate each jawL I The primary reason that the device is effective against creeping in either direction is found in the fact that meansare provided for the cramped or canted position of each aw providing an effective lever grip which is not reversed with a reversal in the movement of the rail, but, on the contrary, as,

stated, the reaction force upon the creeping of the rail in either direction tends to rotate or cant the aw in the same direction and increase the lever grip thereof which is initially established by the straining of the plate or. bar L upon the installation of the device. Since each aw is'thus effeotive'upon the creeping of the rail in opposite directions, one 1 aw alone will properly act to prevent creeplng of the rail in either direction,

even though the other aw, may not properly grip the rail base flange. f I

The improved anchor is of simple form and can be readily made of a resilient metal such as spring'steel. The-top and bottom members of the jaws A and B are preferably made relatively short compared with the width of the rail base, asshown. As

already specified, the connections between the top and bottom members of the jaws which extend around the edge of the rail base flange are made a's'heavy and unyield- 1I1g as possible so that the strain of instal-" lation will beeftectively stored in the more resilient connection L between the jaws.

The inproveinent provides a spring- 'clanip' anti-creeper that will establish and m intaina lever grip upon the rail base; and, in the preferred form, a multiple lever grip upon one rail base flange which is utilized in functional operation to resist the creeping of the rail in either direction. Itfur ther provides a siiiiple and inexpensive forin ofanti creeperwith a non-reversible lever grip on one rail base flange adapted to c0- operate with the sides of an opening in a tie plate or other like part of the sub--struc ture to effectively resist the creeping of the rail in opposite directions.-

The attention is ealled to the fact that the terni jaw throughout the specification and claims has been usedto designate an element having opposite integrally connected members adapted to embrace the rail base,

'or in the preferred form shown, oneofthe.

rail base flanges. p

Obviously, changes. may be made in the detail-s set forth without departure from thelseope of the appended'clai ns.

I claim as IDYlIlVGIlt-lOliZ 1A rail anchor comprising a flange-enibracing clamp and adapted to be strained on installationin a mannertending to rotate the same and thereby establish and maintain a lever grip upon one of the rail.

base flanges and a rail seating plate having means for holding .the clainp in position on the rail base flange and also having abut lllftl'ntt'tlll tt lever grip on one 'of the rail. base flanges, a rail seating plate having shoulders for engaging the opposite rail flange and the clamp respectively to hold the latter against lateral displacement and said plate having a recess for receivingthe lower portion of the clamp and forming abutments cooperative therewith to resist the creeping of the rail in either direction.

3. A rail anchor having a flange-embracing jaw and adapted to be strained on installation to thereby establish a lever grip of the jaw on one of the rail base flanged-and a rail seating plate having a recess receiving the lower portion of the anchor and 00- operating therewith in operation to increase the bite of the lever grip thus established upon the creeping of the rail ineither direction.

4. A rail'anchor. comprising a flange-embracing jaw and a part adapted to be strained on' installation to thereby tend to rock the jaw andestablish a lever grip thereo-f'on one of the rail base flanges, and a rail seating plate havingia recess receiving the lower portion of the anchor and forming shoulderscoroperative therewith to increase the bite of the lever gripfupoii the creeping ofQthe .jawfof the rail injeither. direction;

rail anchor comprising a'flangeein bracingfljaw and a partadapted to be strained on installation to thereby establish a' lever grip of thejaw. on one of the rail base flanges, and a rail seating plate having abutinents holding the jaw in. position on the rail base'and.co-operating, therewith in operation to increase the bite of its;lever direction.

grip upon thecreeping of the rail-in either 6. A rail anchor having plurality otz;

bearings arranged to engage the topand lJOt-tOlIl surfaces of one of the rail base' flanges and form the fulcrunis of a multiple lever grip thereon, said anchor being at least in part of resilient construction'and adapt-ed to be strained 0n iiistallationto establish and inaintaiii the effective contact ofthe raid bearings on the rail base flang-aand a rail seating plateliaving a recess inw-hich the lower portion of the anchor is'conflned'-- for functional operation.

. -7. A rail anchor coniprising a'clip formed of av plurality of substantially rigid jaws having, vertical plane, lever grips ,on the sainebase flange of the rail and a'relatively yielding connect on between the jaws adapt ed tobe strained on installation and thereby establish and maintain the lever grip. of each of said jaws on therailflange, the'lower. portion of said anchor being adapted to. abut against the sub-structure and therebyflincrease the'bite of [its lever grips upon the creeping of the rail in either'directionj 8. An anti-creeperfor railwaynails co1n-' pris ng .a plurality of. jaws adapted to em brace one base flange and having. relatively unyielding connections betweentheir top and bottom nieinbers and relatively yielding resilient connection or connections between the top nenibers off the jaws adapted to be strained on, installation to est-ablish and maintain vertical plane levergrips of the jaws on the rail flange and a rail seating plate having a recess for receiving the lower portions of said jawsaii'd co-operative there with to increase the pressure of the lever grips thereof upon the creeping of the 'rail in either direction. v

9. An anti-creeper for railway rails having bearings on' the top and bottom surfaces of one of the rail base flanges and acting as the fulcruin's of a multiple lever grip on the base flange the ant -creeper having a resilient spring construction whereby. the'efi'ective contact of saidjbearings isinaintained after installation and 111 subsequent functional operation, the lower portion of said anti-creeper being adapted to abut against the sub-structure and cooperate therewith to increase the bite of its multiple lever grip upon the creeping'ot'the rail in either direction.

10. A rail anchor comprising two jaws both arranged to embrace the same base flange and having relativelyfrigid connections between their top and bottom members and a relatively yielding resilient connection between the top members of the jaws hold- ,ing the same in spaced relation and adapted to be strained on installation to thereby rotate said jaws in opposite directions to establish and maintain vertical plane lever grips on the base flange, and a, rail seating plate having means for holding the anchor against lateral displacement and having a recess receivingthe bottom members of the jaws and forming abut-merits therefore whereby the bite of each of the said lever grips is increased upon the creeping of the rail'in either direction.

11. A rail anchor comprising a plurality of relatively rigid jaws with'relatively yielding resilient" connections between the separate jaws, said connection or connections being adapted to be strained on installation to establish and maintain a lever grip of each' of said jaws upon the rail base and said anchor having portions adapted to abut against the substructure and increase the pressure of the lever grip of each jaw upon the creeping of the rail in either direction.

12. A spring-clamp anti-creeper tor railway railsadapted to be strained on installation to establish and maintain a multiple lever'grip upon the rail base and having portions adapted to abut against the sub-structure and increase the pressure of the multiale lever 'ri n 3011 the cree ain 'of the rail in either direction.-

13. A spring-clamp rail anchor comprising two flange-embracing jaws having relatively short upper and lower members and a resilient connection between the upper jaw members that is strained on installation and tends to rotate the jaws in opposite directions to establish and maintain a lever grip of each jaw upon the same rail base flange, and a rail seating plate having shoulders against which the lower jaw members abut to increase the bite of the said lever grips upon the creeping of the rail in either direction. a

14. An anticreeper for railway rails adapted to be strained on installation to establish and maintain a lever grip on the rail base and having separate portions adapted to abut against the substructure and increase the pressure of the lever grip thus established upon the creeping of the rail in either direction. 7

15. A spring-clamp anticreeper for railway rails having bearings arranged to engage the upper and lower faces respectively or the rail base flanges, the anticreeper bemg adapted to be strained on installation to establish and maintain a lever grip of said bearings upon the rail base flange and the anticreeper having separate portions integral respectively with the upper andlower bearings thereof and adapted to abut against the substructure and increase the pressure of ition upon the rail base flange and cooperat- 7 therewith to resist the creeping of the rail.

WILLIAM S. WESTON. 

